So two weeks ago, the MTA rolled out a new counter-intuitive pilot program at two stations – one at the Main Street station on the No. 7 line in Queens and the other in Greenwich Village at Broadway and Eighth Street.

It involves removing every waste receptacle.

But many commuters aren’t on board with the plan.

“I definitely wouldn’t litter but it would be a real inconvenience,” John Lee said.

“If you come a little bit later during the day, you’ll see all kinds of paper cups and fruit stuff all over the bench over there,” Fred Schonfeld of Manhattan told CBS 2’s Jay Dow.

im a MTA track worker, im loving the comments guys! its so heart warming to see the riding public attempt to embrace an idea (a dumb idea) that might help keep your subways cleaner. i mean, with comments like “i WILL REDOUBLE MY EFFORTS TO THROW TRASH AROUND THE SUBWAY” & “Looks like I’ll just have to throw what ever I have to throw into the rails”, how could this possibly fail? i look forward to the huge piles of garbage you guys leave for me to pick up, ill make sure your train sits in that tunnel right where you can see it until every piece of trash is picked up. 🙂

Looks like I’ll just have to throw what ever I have to throw into the rails. So does this mean, they’re going to fire all the useless people who are suppose to be cleaning the subways?? Not like they do anything at all anyway. Look at how the subway stations are now, they’re all filthy and smelly.
Using the subway in other parts of the country feels like walking into Grand Central Station, and using NYC subway feels like I’m going to a junk yard.

They should really re-evaluate. People throw their trash on the track and on the ground where there are no bins in sight. Currently, more often than not, the bins are overflowing and there are not enough of them as is. You rarely can find one when you need one. If they think people will carry their trash with this new plan, they are greatly mistaken. The only thing this will acomplish is messier stations, more delayes from trash pile up on tracks and more track fires. It would really be funny if someone staged a protest where everyone leaves a piece of trash on those 2 stations for a day (or two). I bet that would get their attention.

all mta is doing is openning a new can of worms. if people wasn’t putting their tras in the bins when they were there. what do you think they are going to do in their absence. I for one will not ride from downtown to the bronx with trash. so the cta’s are going to be very busy.

Is there a joke in here that I have somehow missed?
I mean, I get the joke that is the MTA leadership. I get the joke that is about complete and utter incompetence in decision making. But taking away trash
cans to reduce trash??? Does not compute. Fire CEO and any others who
conceived this ill-conceived concept.

Just last week, I watched (& photographed) a well-dressed woman INSTRUCT her well-dressed child (Parochial school uniform) to dispose of her greasy pizza bag under the seat of the subway car. The girl even looked sheepish about it… I really think she knew she was doing the wrong thing. What lesson did this woman teach her child? It’s bad enough when people litter unconsciously. But here was an adult, a role model, who should have known better, but chose, out of convenience, to act like a selfish pig.

With no trash cans on the platforms, most people will NOT carry their trash until they find one. It’s a ridiculous proposal. People need jobs. Public places need trash cans.
PUT 2 + 2 TOGETHER.

The dumbest idea I’ve heard from the MTA. People will just put their trash on the tracks, etc. They WILL find ways to bring food and water in and ways to leave their trash behind. Stupid, stupid stupid!!!!

In today’s world people r more concern with there own business the only thing no trash bins will do is make the stations more nasty then what it is already n more rats riding the train with the passagers!I’m for the no bins n the stations maybe it will help New York’s b more aware!

Who is responsible for such an uninformed idea?! This must be a joke. I thought I was doing my part by actually putting trash into the garbage cans rather than throwing it on the tracks like others. And you want to take that away? Where will people put their trash? On the tracks or on the floor. What about parents who need to throw things away for the small children, or if accidents happen. This is so stupid. And banning drinks and food is also stupid. We are human, not robots, we may have a water bottle or a snack because we just left from working out, or just had surgery or something. I should go work for the MTA just to have an educated voice.

Once again the MTA has come up with an incredibly philanthropic idea;save them money althought hey have no intention of saving hte consumer money withtheir intentions to already raise fares and give less service,but their kindness in thinking ahead to how the rats and mice will eat during the cold winter months;more food tossed in the tracks and on the platforms will aid them nicely.
And personally, i would truly so much rather feed the rats and mice than see anyone on the MTA Board get a single penny from any of us.
I thin kwe should also have a law mandating if you work for the MTA in an upper echolon position, you are requried to travel ONLY by public transit!
Like to see them get around on time, or at all ,especially in NE Queens where they cut routes on weekedns, and buslines altogether!!!!!!!!

They seem to have forgotten that the reason they put the garbage cans there in the first place was to prevent the track and tunnel fires and the huge infestation of rats that would run on the tracks and platforms. Without garbage cans people will just throw their garbage on the tracks like they used to. And crews will again have to walk the platforms to pick up the garbage. Removing garbage cans from the platforrns is one of the worse is ideas I have heard.

This is a rediculous idea. The trash will end up in the station, on the tracks or in the already overflowing street trash cans. Removing the cans will not change the amount of trash that needs to be disposed. If it’s not in cans, it will be everywhere else.

Funny, in London there are NO trash cans at any stations for security purposes. There is one large plastic bag at the station exit….that is it! No garbage to be found anywhere on the platforms….the conclusion: New Yorkers are pigs.

Not all New Yorkers are pigs. There are just some that don’t hesitate to litter.

This test program will have a chance if there are few litter bugs and the clean people just hold on to their trash or get “trained” not to bring items that will become trash. This pretty much works everywhere else in the US and abroad.

When the NY/NJPA built the air train to the LIRR/Subway station at Jamaica, the upper mezzanine above the LIRR train platforms originally had no garbage cans.
Even though massive amounts of people cross up there transfering between LIRR to Subway, or Subway to Air Train, etc. they originally had no garbage cans up there on the idea that people would hold and carry their garbage to a can in the subway, or on the LIRR platforms. This was mainly because the PA always tries to push off any costs possible onto other agencies.
Within a few years they had to add garbage cans because the average traveler just found a corner, or behind a pole to dump their garbage, leaving litter all over the place, especially on a windy day.
There are now garbage cans around that upper mezzanine and it’s now much cleaner up there.
The MTA will eventually learn the same thing, but they will end up picking up more garbage off the tranks, or they will be putting out more track fires before they finally learn the same thing the PA learned the hard way in Jamaica.

OK, this is one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard. Taking away trash bins just means people are going to leave the trash in the stations and on the trains. Do they honestly think people are going to hold on to their garbage until they leave the system, or that the garbage is going to magically disappear? Now they’re going to have rats AND track fires!

Even with the bins removed,(whether it be for security or cost control) trash will find its way onto the platforms and rail system. It’s a matter of educating the human animal first. This amounts to no difference of opening the car window and disposing of your trash.

The London, England area banned outdoor trash cans years ago, though for a much different reason – the IRA was putting bombs in them. However, the end result will more than likely be the same – GARBAGE EVERYWHERE, just tossed on the ground if there was no place to deposit the liter.